Australia's Suncorp appoints Steve Johnston as CEO

Australian insurance and banking conglomerate Suncorp Group has appointed Steve Johnston as chief executive officer, succeeding Michael Cameron who resigned in May.

Mr. Johnston, who was Suncorp’s chief financial officer, had been the acting CEO since Mr. Cameron’s resignation, which prompted the company to launch a global search for a successor.

According to Suncorp Chairman Christine McLoughlin, the decision to give the permanent job to Mr. Johnston followed a “competitive and robust recruitment process, which included high-calibre global and local candidates”.

“Steve was the outstanding candidate. He has a clear vision for Suncorp’s future, a deep understanding of Australia and New Zealand’s financial services industry and the organisation,” Ms. McLoughlin says in a statement on September 9.

Mr. Johnston joined Suncorp in 2006 as executive general manager of its group corporate affairs and investor relations department. Before that, he worked at Australian telecommunications company Telstra, where he was national general manager of the corporate and government affairs department.

Meanwhile, Suncorp says Jeremy Robson will continue as the acting CFO while “a robust recruitment process is undertaken considering internal and external candidates”. Mr. Robson was the deputy when Mr. Cameron was CFO.

Brisbane-based Suncorp had A$96.23 billion (US$65.8 billion) of total assets as of June 2019.